Obituary of Erika Karoline Sophie Soriano

On Tuesday, September 15, 2020, Erika Soriano, beloved mother and grandmother, passed away at the age of 92. Born in Hamburg, Germany on March 5, 1928, Erika led an eventful and spirited life. As a child, Erika and her family lost loved ones in the concentration camps of WWII, as well as in the Allied fire bombings of Hamburg. After the war, she and her first husband moved to Honduras. After a divorce, she spent several years working as an x-ray technologist and saved up enough to move back home to Germany. There, she worked for the Chilean Consulate and met her second husband and love of her life, Federico, a Salvadoran who was studying medicine in Germany. Together they lived in Louisiana, El Salvador, and Wisconsin, before finally settling in Minnesota where they raised their family, while she worked in medical offices doing bookkeeping and office management. Federico passed in 1993. Erika unexpectedly found love again and remarried in 2000. Sadly her husband, Wilfred, passed later that same year. Erika was the kind of person who left an impression on everyone she met. She was many things to many people; mother, sister, friend, wife, confidante, advisor, and cheerleader. She will always be remembered for her charisma, bleeding heart, fierce feminism, stubborn will, and green thumb, as well as her love of dance, music, travel, corny jokes, and chocolate. Erika was preceded in death by her mother Erna, father Hans, sister Anita, second husband Federico, and third husband Wilfred. She is survived by her daughters Silvia, Sandy, Maya (Robert), and Yana; grandchildren Richard, Scott, Michael, Tasha, Jon, Jacob, Alissa, Celina, Christopher, and Sophia, several great-grandchildren, sister Gisela (Rainer), and many other friends and family in Germany and the United States. A small Celebration of Life Open House will be held at the Cremation Society of Minnesota in Edina, on Sunday September 27, 2020 from 1-4 pm. Masks will be required and social distancing guidelines followed. If you wish to make a charitable donation in remembrance of Erika’s life, the family asks it be directed to one of these organizations: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) The Cure Alzheimer’s Fund The Sierra Club